There is a video clip of Virender Sehwag on YouTube which shows him humming a Bollywood song as he gets ready to face Allan Donald in the Masters league. As the ball lands on his pads, Sehwag wastes no time in dispatching it nonchalantly over long leg for a six.
Virender Sehwag was one of a kind. Having played most of his domestic cricket in the middle order, he was promoted into the opening slot in international cricket by Sourav Ganguly, who was convinced enough with Sehwag’s attacking abilities. Among the many good things Ganguly had done for Indian cricket, this probably was the best.
Going by cricketing conventions, Sehwag was not supposed to succeed as an opener. He hardly moved his feet, he frequently chased balls wide of off stump, and all he wanted to do was hit every ball out of the park. Not something Test openers wanted to have on their CV.
But of course, Sehwag was never one to bow down to conventions. He made up for his cement-laden feet with excellent hand-eye coordination, probably one of the best-ever we will see in cricket. He found a way to write himself in the annals of history and his contribution to cricket was much more than his 17,253 international runs.
Here we take a look at some of his best Test performances:
309 (375) vs Pakistan, Multan 2004
The innings which gave birth to the famous moniker, ‘Multan ka Sultan’, was probably one of the most brutal innings Sehwag played, and that is saying something. Sehwag opened the batting with Delhi teammate, Aakash Chopra, and the pair put on a 160-run stand of which Chopra contributed only 42. Sehwag was in no mood to spare any bowler, carting 39 fours and six sixes, two of the latter taking him to his century and triple century. It was the first Test triple century by an Indian batsman, and to reach such a milestone with a six was the beginning of the making of a legend.
319 (304) vs South Africa, Chennai 2008
As if one triple century was not enough, Sehwag went out and scored another four years later. This time against the mighty pace battery of the Proteas, which boasted of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini and Jacques Kallis. In fact, such was his domination that despite the intimidating bowling attack, Sehwag scored at well above run-a-ball. He put on a 213-run opening partnership with Wasim Jaffer, the latter scoring just 73 of those.
He then joined hands with Rahul Dravid, and continued on his merry ways, making the South Africans feel even more heat in the sweltering Chennai weather. By the time he got out, Sehwag had scored 42 fours and five sixes at an incredible strike-rate of 104.93. With his 319, he joined the legendary Sir Donald Bradman as the only batsmen to have two triple centuries in Test cricket.
195 vs Australia, Melbourne 2003
Sehwag had established himself as India’s Test opener in the course of a year and a half. He had been promoted to open in India’s tour of England in 2002 and had scored 84 in his first innings as an opener. A 106 in the very next game sealed his place at the top. India’s boxing day Test against Australia at the famed Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2003 saw the emergence of Sehwag’s ability to score daddy hundreds. Well, almost.
Opening the innings with Aakash Chopra, Sehwag went on the offensive early, punching, driving and pulling the likes of Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and Stuart MacGill with aplomb. Sehwag’s majestic 195 was laced with 25 fours, and despite the huge size of the MCG, he managed to clear the fence five times, meaning that he had got 130 of those in boundaries alone.
The innings ranks as one of his best-ever because it came in challenging foreign conditions, and the fact that the next best score by an Indian batsman was Rahul Dravid’s 49. While Sehwag may have missed out on a maiden double-century then, he more than made up for it in the coming years.
Featured image courtesy: AFP/ Dibyangshu Sarkar
